Bring on the ice age

| February 19, 2012 8:00 PM

No, we are not hopping on board with wild-eyed theorists in the global warming debate.

Yes, we are jumping on the Frontier Ice Arena bandwagon, hoping to help the youth of North Idaho find a healthy home away from home.

As an ad in today's newspaper announces, $770,000 of the final $800,000 fundraising drive has been raised locally for the nonprofit ice rink, leaving a mere $30,000 to go.

Since massive snowfalls crushed the facility in 2008, the rink has gone from devastation to re-creation. In its reincarnated form, thanks, too, to a $2 million insurance payment and a parking lot paid for by urban renewal dollars, Frontier Ice Arena will be bigger and better than ever.

In addition to generous donations from many local residents, from old ice hockey fans to youngsters pitching in with fundraisers, Frontier Communications inked a seven-year, $175,000 naming rights deal last September with the nonprofit Kootenai Youth Recreation Organization.

Admittedly, this drive to keep our ice rink alive has taken longer than anybody wanted. Ask any nonprofit how hard it is to raise money these days and they'll tell you the rotten economy has made it even tougher than usual on volunteers. There was hope that Frontier Ice Arena could be rockin' and rollin' by Thanksgiving. When that goal slipped by, skating before winter went away became the order of the day. Now that's not going to happen, either. But another $30,000 will ensure the kids will be skating this summer.

As a community, we've come too far to let this campaign keep dragging on. The finish line is within reach. The 34,000-square-foot, $2.8 million Frontier Ice Arena will become a year-round recreational mainstay for many years to come. This time it's built with the future in mind, with abundant parking and room for an eventual second skating rink. There is nothing like it anywhere in our region.

If you can help, please don't wait any longer. Go to www.kyro.org and click on the "donate" button; mail a check to KYRO, P.O. Box 491, Post Falls, ID 83877; or call 765-4423.